The Catholic League is proud to announce that tomorrow, December 18, there will be a blessing of its creches on public property in New York and Philadelphia. The New York creche, which will be erected tomorrow, will be blessed at 4:30 p.m. by Msgr. John Woolsey; it will be located on the comer of 59th Street and 5th Avenue, in Central Park. The Philadelphia creche, which is already up, will be blessed at 5:00 p.m. by Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua; it is located on the Judge Lewis Quadrangle of Independence National Historic Park, across the street from the Liberty Bell. This is the third consecutive year that the league has erected a creche in New York and the first time that it has done so in Philadelphia.
League president William Donohue commented on the displays today:
“We are delighted to engage in the public expression of our religion, especially at this time of the year. And I am particularly impressed with the determination of our chapter coordinator and Philadelphia/South Jersey chapter president, Arthur Delaney, in securing such a prestigious spot for the display of our creche.
“Predictably, some are already aghast. Take, for example, the phenomenal reasoning of the PhiladelphiaDaily News: it opposes the display of creches and menorahs (interestingly, this is the first time in the 22 years that the menorah has been erected that the newspaper found reason to object) by saying,’ The multi-religious, multicultural nation born at that location [across from the Liberty Bell] is best served by an absence of religious symbols.’ It is hard to think of a more historically fatuous and intellectually dishonest argument than this. No doubt if Andres Serrano displayed his ‘Piss Christ’ exhibition in the same spot, the editors would delight in saying what a grand affirmation of the First Amendment this is.
”By displaying creches on public property, the Catholic League hopes to galvanize those of every faith to proudly proclaim their religion in public.”
